open your card first.

my baby is turning fourteen in two days.  he will, on that day, wake up fourteen, as he was born at an even earlier hour of the morning than his older brother (who greeted the dawn).  he has already guessed every single one of his presents.  which is not too hard when you are the kind of kid who makes a very specific list of what you want.  i hold out hope that, one day, he will be surprised.  but, regardless, he is very happy!

 my parents came to celebrate, practice chopstick-use,

and slip tofu onto their grandsons' plates.

actually, my dad and i ordered the exact same thing - walnut shrimp with melon - and smiled at each others' refined (sugar) taste.  only the chopsticks slowed me down (though not by much).  mom was the tofu-gifter, the boys ate their broccoli, and my dad entertained us with stories of 'stolen' hubcabs & steamed seaweed (you had to be there).

given that we are now in the sun sign Libra, the days have (naturally) turned temperate, balanced, and harmonious (because we Libras are all that).  so we decided to continue our birthday ramble (we walked to the restaurant from our house).

almost fourteen-year olds still jump off fountains.

 on the other side from where the restaurant is,

lies my favorite city park.

 the birthday boy suggested he take a photo of the rest of us

on the little bridge.

 so he did.

then i, completely unpredictably, started taking photos

of flowers.

 (can't decide which image i like better, so i put in both.)

Joseph wrestled the camera back from me to (gasp!) take photos of people.

Study on Grandpa

Grandpa's shoes

it's hard to tell when someone is taking your photo with these silent digital cameras!

i think i was wondering what he was doing.  apparently, taking a picture.

 then i got the camera back.

& resumed my study of muck.

 and beauty.

at last, we circled back around to home.

& Joseph opened some presents!

but he read his card first, of course.

Samuel & an Unbirthday gift

 (the Unbirthday is a tradition of my childhood

whereby the child whose birthday it is not

does not feel excluded from the celebration

of the child whose birthday it is.)

almost fourteen-year olds like to sit on the bouncy chair.